The Pen Addict 436/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	436
Title:	Pens Take Precedence
Release Date:	November 11th, 2020
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 436
Audio File:	Audio Episode 436
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 436
Length:	6161 min <br />1.017 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Speaker 02: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 436, and today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Ooni Pizza Ovens. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by my good friend, and a man I love very dearly, and we are approaching him with cotton wool gloves on today, Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. Hello, Myke, how are you today? I am good. I am happy to be speaking to you. I would like to provide an update for our listeners as to why I am approaching this episode in such a weird way. A couple of days ago, we're obviously going to talk about this in more detail, but a couple of days ago, my co-host and one of my best friends in the entire world, Mr. Brad Dowdy, broke his wrist pretty badly. Unfortunately, unfortunately, that's bad enough, but what makes it worse is, of course, of course, it was Brad's right wrist that was broken, which, as you can imagine, bit of a problem for Brad Dowdy. I likened it to if I lost my voice for six weeks, you know, like that's kind of a similar thing, right? Like it would be very inconvenient for me if I did the same thing that you've done, but I could get around it a lot easier than I would assume you'd be able to. So I've spoken enough. How are you?

Brad Dowdy: I've been better, not going to lie. So yeah, it's been a tough couple of days. Broke it Sunday and, you know, just been kind of taking it easy since then.

Speaker 02: Was this due to some real heroics? You have a good story? You fly a tiger?

Pickleball Injury

Brad Dowdy: I guess we should handle this first. So I was playing a game called Pickleball, which I put in my Instagram post and a lot of this comment was, what is pickleball? I've never heard of this. And that's fair, fair questions. It's generally seen as an old person's retirement sport, but it's a little bit more aggressive than that. It's think of it like giant ping pong or miniature tennis, right? You're outdoors on a court that's lined like a tennis court and you have paddles like the size of like a racquetball racquets, you know, and you play with a play with a ball and it's, you know, fast paced. It's literally like ping pong, you know, ping pong can be as slow as you want it or as fast as you want it, right? And so you're running around, you usually play doubles. And it was me and my wife playing, you know, her friend and her husband and, you know, we're just playing a game. And just like, you know, if you were playing tennis, you know, you hit a lob shot over someone's head. So my shot was hit over my wife's head. So I run back to go get it and, you know, chase down the ball, hit the shot back towards the court. Like my body's moving the opposite way from where I hit it, right? So I'm going pretty much full speed, hit the shot back and then just kind of take a tumble. And it's all downhill from there.

Speaker 02: And this is one of those really annoying things about human nature. You know, the worst thing to do when you're falling the way that you were is probably to put your arm out. But it's what we do. You know, like professionals, athletes, they're taught to fall in different ways, right? There's like a way that you fall on your back or whatever. Exactly. You wouldn't, if you were thinking logically, you wouldn't put your hand out. You might put your arm out, but not your hand out, right? And like that's the issue, I guess.

Brad Dowdy: Or you try to roll to your back or just land on anything but your wrist. That's how you're going to break your wrist is by bracing your fall. And unfortunately, my wrist didn't even just land on the ground. I stuck it in the fence and it just made it worse. So that's why it became so bad and it wasn't just like this little clean break that we can slap a cast on and be good with it. So it got kind of stuck and your body kept going, huh? Yep. Yep. So it was not pretty. It was not fun. It took me probably like a good 20 or 30 minutes to be able to just like walk because I was in like so much pain just like seeing stars.

Speaker 02: I was going to ask if it hurt. I know that seems like a stupid question, but sometimes it takes a while, right?

Brad Dowdy: It hurt, you know, but there's like a lot of adrenaline, a lot of stress and things like that. So, yeah, like then we went over to the doctor and, you know, went to the emergency room and got the x-rays and they're like, yeah, you want to look at them? I'm like, this doesn't sound good. You want to come see them? And I was like, boy, they really want to show me something, don't they? They weren't like, yeah, it's a break. We'll put a cast on it. You'll be good in four to six weeks. They're like, you want to come take a look at this? And I'm like, damn it. I like that. It's not going to go well.

Speaker 02: Am I able to provide something that you can't?

Brad Dowdy: Like, what is the... Like, and they're actually making me get up and I'm already like wobbly. I'm already like, you know, not handling the moving around very well. It's like, could you bring them to me? Like, bring the little thing in here and let me see it. And they're like, no, come look at them. So, that's where we're at. We're recording early this morning. If you see this podcast, go live in your feeds early on Wednesday. It's because I'm heading to get the decision made on the wrist when I'm done with this.

Speaker 02: And this is surgery, no surgery is the decision. Yeah. But what you told me, because I asked you some questions before we recorded, because I wanted to make sure you were all good. Is that like the recovery time either way is pretty similar, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, they're looking at six to eight weeks. And like I told Myke, the odds are, at least from the first couple doctors that looked at it, they think no surgery, but they're not the hand doctors. So, they wanted to make sure I got someone to look at it.

Speaker 02: I think you're going to have to learn what the real phrase is for that, my friend. Hand doctor. Consider you're probably going to see a few of these, you might want to get that one nailed down a little bit.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, it sucks. And to be honest, I'm not handling it very well. You know, I've been in a lot of pain, so I've just been taking it easy, but I'm not a very good take it easy person. I rely on, like, my job is my identity kind of thing, right? Which is a weird place to be. And when I feel like I can't do my job, I lose a little bit of myself, right? We've talked about in the past, like, why do I do what I do for a living? And my answer is because I can't not do it, right? I'm good at what I do because I can't not do this. That's how much I care about this. And right now, I can't do it. So, I'm struggling with that. Knowing that it's really only been, like, two days.

Pain Management

Speaker 02: There is a lot of yes and, or yes and no, I think, to this.

Speaker 02: Because, all right, right now, today, you can't use a pen, right? We know this.

Speaker 02: Potentially, at some point during the six-week period, you might be able to start a little bit, right? Like, we don't know. You have to wait and see how it feels. But let's be real, though, Brad. Like, just product reviewing. If a toy could take that part to begin. It's not just how it writes. Right. It really isn't, right? Like, there's a lot more to it. And you can still do all of that. Yes. That is, like, you know, a big part of what you do. And there are, I'm sure, lots of ancillary products that would be nice to review, but you don't really do use them. And you can focus on those. Like, more desk products, stationary products that are not pens, right? Mm-hmm. Like, that you can still review and provide your thoughts and feelings on. Stuff that you might not necessarily cover because pens take precedent. You know, and it's not like, as well, the company doesn't shut down because you have a team of people that you work with that can still produce the reviews. I understand why this is harmful to your self-image. Like, how you feel about yourself. Mm-hmm. Because you can't do it in the way, do everything in the way that you want to. But, like, the realistic part of it is, like, the machine can keep moving. I mean, look, the other thing is, come on, you're going to have to learn how to write left-handed. That's your goal, right? And I will tell you right now, I thought of it immediately. Many people did, I'm sure, and I'm sure you have. A diary of you trying to make that happen over the next couple of months on the blog would just be so good. Yeah. So, I will put a request out to our listeners. If anyone has ever tried to do this, we would like to know your experiences and what resources you may have used, if any. But, you know, look, you could come out of this, Brad, and you could be able to review two pens at once. Right? Yeah. Jewel-wilding.

Brad Dowdy: I am looking at the positive. And, look, like, I don't have a pad. You know, like, it's going to be fine. I'm just in my own head, you know, down in the... I'm woe is me-ing myself too much. This is the first day I've opened the laptop since it happened, like, to get onto this podcast. Like, I was even sending... Like, I normally write the show doc. I'm sending Myke the links just in Slack. It's like, I can't do it. Just here. This is the things we should talk about. It's like, I just can't do it. Like, I'm not motivated. I guess after today, today's a good turning point when I get to see the doctor and be done. And then maybe, you know, I haven't even tried... I'm planning on trying to learn to write left-handed. Like, I have to. Like, it makes complete sense. I want to do it because I want to use my pens and want to try to figure these things out. But I haven't even picked up a single pen since that day because when I... I want to sit down and do it and be in the right headspace to do it. I don't want to say, okay, let's try to write left-handed and just be frustrated because it's going to suck.

Speaker 02: Because you're going to get upset, frustrated, right? Like, and you want to make... You want to approach it a little more with a better, like, state of mind.

Brad Dowdy: I had to get Tyler to put on my headphones today to podcast.

Speaker 02: Yeah. You know, that's where I'm at. But I guess it's because right now, what are you, bandaged up?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and it's a over-the-elbow splint, right? So my arm's in, like, an L shape. Yeah. So... And I can't really move a lot. So I'm hoping to get, like, a smaller, more mobile cast.

Speaker 02: Yeah, that's it, right? Like, at the moment, you're not in the semi-permanent, like, solution. You're in something that I'm sure is going to cause you pain. Where a cast will provide you with a little bit more support. And will make some stuff, I'm sure, a lot easier. I guess you're going to have to get into the old dictation.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know if I can do that. Maybe I'll try that. But, like, you know, like, my writing style, you know, that goes from my head to the pen to the paper or to the computer screen is... I don't... I guess it's dictatable, but...

Speaker 02: It's very much your voice.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I don't know how frustrated I would get going back and forth and editing that. Like, I might just... I'm okay just typing that with one hand. I've really been using my phone a lot. Yeah. Like, I typed part of an... No, but I'm okay just typing with my left thumb and... Have you tried swipe typing? Part of an article. Mm-mm.

Speaker 02: Get into the swipe typing. Okay. Do you know what that is? Like, when... It's built into iOS. Try that out. Like, that's how I use... That's how basically the only way that I type on my phone. It's way faster than, like, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Speaker 02: You're gonna learn all these things. You're gonna be so powerful after this. Yeah. All these skills.

Handwriting Adaptations

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'll come out, like, with some ambidextrous handwriting. And, you know, I think it's gonna be fun. I just gotta get out of my own way. I, you know, everyone who has these types of things wants everything to go faster, right? So they can get back to normal. And it's just not gonna happen. And the sooner you settle into the fact that you just gotta be patient, take time for yourself. You know, if you're hurting, go lay down. Like, you know, I've spent most of Monday in bed. I spent most of Tuesday out of bed. So it's getting a little bit better that way. And, you know, so just getting out of my own way, getting my headspace correct. Today was a good start for that. Like, I got up today and I edited Jeff's post for the blog today. Nice. That felt good. Like, oh, I'm getting back into my workflow. Yeah. Like, and that's just a little part of it. You know, the writing reviews and stuff. Like, you know, I could skip six weeks of reviews. That would be fine. Like, that would be fine. But, you know, I have all these other writers that are doing a great job. And, you know, it's more of a mindset for me right now, I guess.

Speaker 02: Yeah. Because it's like, look, there are, there aren't really many more injuries you could sustain that would be more disruptive. Yeah. To you. Yeah. Yeah. Which it really is a kind of like, this is one of those things that like we are going to look back and laugh on. Right. Right. Because it's so bananas for you to have this particular injury. Like, I don't, you know, like, if you broke your leg, it would be less disruptive. Oh, sure. And I don't think that that is normal for most people. Right. Because like, you know, breaking a leg is like, whoa, that's a big one, you know. But you would at least be able to continue working pretty much as normal. There are other things that come, like, what about like product shipping and stuff? What are you planning to do?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Those are the things I worry more about than actually like, say, writing an article on the website. The things that I owe people, right? Like, that's shipping products from Knock and Spoke and Pen Addict. That's the membership newsletter for, that I write refill for Pen Addict members. Those are the things weigh on me more than, you know, whether I have a review up on Monday or, you know, those type of things. So, my wife's going to help me ship. I've already missed like one of my shipping days this week just because, you know, I can't do it. And so, she's going to help me ship. I have some, the things that's, that I'm just, I'm not dreading. I'm like trying to wrap my head around. It's like, I have some new products to put up on the site. And when you do that, that causes extra shipping, like, which is good. Like, that's how you want your business to run. Hey, I have things to sell and people buy them. That's cool. But I can't, I can't really ship them in a timely fashion. Yeah.

Speaker 02: I would maybe recommend just holding them for like a week or so.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So, you know, so I'm going to have help. I've got a great family support system. My wife's going to help. My parents just moved into town. They're retired. So, like, they'll help me. Like, they're taking me to the doctor today because my wife's working and I'm still on drugs and I shouldn't be driving and stuff like that. So, you know, I've got, like I said, I'm luckier than most. This is a less important injury than most. You know, I know people go through a lot more serious things than I do. It's just, you know, it's taken me a minute to wrap my head around it, get out of my own sulkingness and kind of get back on track. And honestly, today's helping with that, with how I started the day, how we're doing the podcast now makes me feel normal, getting kind of a normal workflow as much as I can. Yeah. And just try to move forward with it. And then getting to the doctor today and get some more definitive answers so I can say, now, this is what I have in front of me and this is how I'm going to handle it. Like, whereas these past couple days have been, you know, I don't know. And that's been a challenge.

Speaker 02: What a surprising turn of events.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. We don't have to belabor this anymore, but I do want to say thank you to everyone who reached out. Oh my God, the support and messages and emails and everything that I got from all of my friends out there. Thank y'all so much. It really meant a lot to me. Um, it puts a smile on my face when y'all make fun of me and, you know, try to giggle at trying to figure out what pickleball is. Like y'all, I think y'all know my attitude and that I don't take myself too seriously and that we're able to have these fun and that y'all are able to, you know, turn that around on me a little bit for this. It really makes me smile, puts a smile on my face. So thank y'all for all the support and, uh, I'm going to be leaning on y'all for the next few weeks. I might not be, you know, business as usual. So, uh, uh, just hang in there. We'll get back to normal soon enough.

Speaker 02: If you want to, you know, if you feel this moment like, ah, Brad needs my support right now. Don't buy any products from him. Go sign up for the members newsletter. Go sign up for a refill. Like if you have that, that's how I feel, uh, in these types of moments, it's like, oh, I want to help him. No, it's cool. Go, go get an annual membership to refill instead. Uh, do go and do that. And don't expect a newsletter this week. So just go and do that. The refill is my favorite newsletter that I subscribe to. I really recommend it. Um, but you know, yeah, it's just like, uh, uh, buying something from you right now is more of a problem than it is a benefit.

Brad Dowdy: What I really need is just y'all to make me smile and laugh and y'all are really good at that. So that's, that's all I need. I don't need anything else. So I've got, I'm, I'm lucky to have great friends like you and the whole panatic community and, uh, the support's been awesome. Um, and you know, this is like you said, in a few months, this is going to be a blip on the radar and I'll have learned how to write left-handed somewhat. So, you know, we'll, we'll, maybe we'll explore that next week because between now and then I'll have some time to work on that. So, uh, we'll, we'll put that down in the notes for, for next week that Brad will have started, um, writing and sharing his left-handed experience by then.

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Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So Uni sent me the Coda 16 and we just absolutely swear by it, right? It's one of those products you look at and you go, huh, really? Do you think this really works? And it's pretty clear looking at Uni's growth over the years. If, you know, Uni is like the superstar pizza oven maker now. So it's clear that it works. And we are in love with this. It's like, it's an exciting time when we plan to have pizza night now because we can, you know, make our dough, get our toppings, shop for all of our toppings. And then we can make, you know, there's four of us in our families. We can make four individual pizzas and I can cook all four of those pizzas in a grand total of like five minutes. It's pretty intense heat in those ovens. So it's, it's really fun and the family loves it, makes great pizzas. And I am seriously impressed with what, with what Uni has done and I love the product.

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Brad Dowdy: All right. So one thing I wanted to do this week, Myke, since I couldn't put too much time into planning the show, luckily there were a bunch of new products I wanted to talk about. So how about you drive this train and let's talk about all these different links that you and I both found to talk about.

Speaker 02: Of course. So yeah, as you can imagine, there are new sailor pens. There are always the new sailor pens. And these, I think, run the gamut of interesting. So we have a new North America special edition. So this follows, was the Wicked Witch a North America? Yes. It was the whole, it wasn't just like a specific vendor. Yeah. No, no, no. So we have another 1911 colorway. This is called Loch Ness Monster, which is the wrong name. It should just be called Loch Ness. I don't know why they would put monster in there, but they have. And it's blue.

Speaker 02: The end. Kind of all I have to say on this one. I'm really underwhelmed by it.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. We agree on this wholeheartedly. I don't know what they're doing here. We're going to talk, by the time we get to the end of this little sailor section, because we have some really interesting stuff to talk about. I want to talk about sailor in general. I don't know what's happening here. Sure.

Brad Dowdy: Let's start with this. What color is the Loch Ness Monster, Myke?

Speaker 02: Well, okay. So it's kind of two questions to this, right?

Brad Dowdy: Despite the incorrect naming, right? Loch Ness is one pen, right? Yeah. That I feel might be blue and silver trimmed. Loch Ness Monster? What color is Loch Ness Monster, Myke?

Speaker 02: I mean, my heart says green. Yeah. All right. But visually, it would be like a dark gray, right? That's as much as we've ever gotten. But if you said to me, like you've just said, what color is the Loch Ness Monster? I will tell you it's green, even though I don't know why. It's not blue. Right. Right.

Brad Dowdy: Because any large kind of monster that could be a fish, could be a dragon, it seems to be kind of greenish gray, anything like that. And I was like, oh, cool. Loch Ness Monster. Click it open. And it's like, it looks like an ocean. And it's perfectly fine, right? It's a perfectly fine pen, but I don't understand, again, the why. Why are we doing this? And that's probably the bigger question I have.

Sailor Pen Critique

Speaker 02: The Wicked Witch really was good, because the color was good. It was like a nice deep purple. And it's like, oh, yeah, that's fun. And I could do a thing where I could imagine matching it with green ink, right? And that was great. Yeah. But this one just, the blue looks nice, but it feels like, you know, you started with, here's a fun thing, and just, it didn't pay off. You know, like, for example, if they had a blue pen and a green cap, I'd be like, yeah, that's cool, right? Like, you know, there was something, there's something that's just not right here. And I find the name Loch Ness Monster to just be, it's just like a weird name. You know, because like, you would either go with the 1911 Loch Ness, or the 1911 Nessie, right? Loch Ness Monster is just, is peculiar. But yeah, I feel like it's, they didn't really take this one as far as it could have been done. What was the pirate one?

Brad Dowdy: Pirate's Life, I think.

Speaker 02: And because that one was cool, because you got the little coin, right? It's just like, you know, there are things that they could have done with this one to make it more exciting. But at its core, right, like, if you ignored the branding of it, this is a very nice color blue 1911, which some people will dig.

Brad Dowdy: This is, I should go ahead and have my Sailor diatribe at this point now, because this pen fits most of what I want to say. I don't think Sailor has a stock pen lineup anymore. And that's where I find this whole bit curious, right? So it's like every quarter we're coming out now with the North American Special Edition. Is it because we no longer have standard Sailor pens? This is a standard lineup pen. This should be the 2021 or the upcoming 2021 Sailor pen lineup should have this blue pen and the yellow Pirate's pen. And all of these are just stock colors. You know, sure, they gave me the gold doubloon with the Pirate's Life or whatever, trying to make it special. But what these really are, are base additions in my mind. I think the Wicked Witch is accepted from that a little bit. I think it's a little bit more because they usually don't do ionized plating for stock lineups. But that's all I see in these last couple is these are usurping the stock edition. You know what you would see the base retail lineup Sailor edition. And it seems like Sailor does not really care too much about that product anymore, which is okay. But at the same time, I feel that's what they're giving us in these limited editions, you know, the North American exclusives. I feel like it's just, you know, a faux stock lineup, if you will. Because I don't think they're special enough to keep issuing this many limited editions every three months to this market. It's just not. At some point, they're going to run into just like a real logjam of products. And it's just not working for me what they're trying to do.

Speaker 02: That's interesting. Is this a change of opinion for you? Do you think?

Brad Dowdy: No, I'm trying. What this week has shown me with what we're going to talk about with more of Sailor is that I'm really confused on what the future holds for the brand. And I think they are too, right? They're in transition, right? I still feel that everything we're going to talk about was probably decided before the plus talks. And even though that's not a finalized situation right now, I think they're probably just, you know... I think they don't have a little direction that they need. I think they're... Not that they're floundering. They're... I mean, this pin is awesome. What they're telling me this pin is makes me question what they're doing, right? There's two different things. Is that fair?

Speaker 02: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: As a standalone, if this was the mainline Sailor pin for 2021, I would be like, hell yeah.

Brad Dowdy: But I'm just a little bit confused. And it's starting to get... They're starting to get too many wires crossed on what they're trying to do. I'm just trying to figure it out. Like, I mean, of course, I still love them. And the pin is glorious. I mean, I think it's a beautiful pin. I just don't know what it is. Like, what product is this? I don't know. So, they're confusing me right now. Because let's skip this next link and go to the third link. Okay. And because this is going to be a mainline product. So, this is the new Sailor Shikiori colors for this year. And I think, Myke, I don't know how limited these are going to be, if at all. Because they've done previous versions, you know, a Shikiori lineup. They did, like, some seasonal stuff before where they released, like, four pins.

Speaker 02: Shikiori, it's basically a pro gear. Looks like slim, but I can't tell. Slim. They are. And they have a semi-translucent matte finish in the body with the clear finials that we saw in, like, the lighthouse. These seem, to me, they feel a little bit like the cocktail editions. These are absolutely stunning. Every single one of them. Beautiful. They're amazing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like, the finish on these is a little bit different, right? It's that matte finish, which makes them look kind of like that cloudy glass on the lighter colors. Like, there's a light green one here that I think is just the standout of the bunch. But they're all, like, wonderful. They mimic some of the colors in the mini release, but just finish the barrels differently. The green and the purple one especially, the darker ones. They look like they're just larger versions of the mini pens. The volume.

Speaker 02: All the finials have glitter in them, too. Yeah, they're beautiful. These are awesome.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, these are really great. But I think what these are going to be, I think these will, I haven't read the full translation. I'm looking at it now. But what they've done with the Shikiori in the past is this has been a full worldwide release. Like, all retailers get these. And they'll sell out eventually, but it's not necessarily a limited run, right? It's a, you know, this is an annual run. Like, this is where I think, like, the group of the North America editions should be released as four pens. And these are the four we're going to have for 2021 kind of thing.

Speaker 02: So, the focus of these is rain. It's the four seasons of rain. Spring rain. What's they're calling? Swee, which is summer rain. Drizzle in autumn. And ice pellets in winter. That's beautiful. I love these and will definitely pick up at least one of them. Because this is like, you know, like, we've been, this for me is like, comparing it to what we just saw a minute ago. Like, this is what I want from them. It's like, give me something I don't have. Right. And I don't have a Sailor Pro gear that has a body texture. Like, this kind of matte texture. I don't have that. Like, and these, I mean, these all look fantastic. I really love them. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Like, this is what Sailor does best, in my opinion.

Speaker 02: Well, so, like, here's the question then, Brad. Right? Is the problem, the problem of what we were just talking about, is that the devolved control is the issue. Right? That, like, if it's coming from Sailor in Japan, maybe it will still be like, oh, very cool. But when we got the one from the Sailor of North America, it was like, this doesn't, this isn't it.

Brad Dowdy: I guess. I don't know. I mean, they still have to, it's still, I still see it as one unit working together for decisions. Even though, probably they're getting, you know, like, Pilot would have the U.S. office pick the Vanishing Point limited edition for the year. And alternate that year with the French office, you know, limited edition. But they still have to, I don't know. I think it's still very much in the same, in the same bucket, in the same planning. Because just like North American users shop the Japanese market, it's the same the other way around. Although I imagine it's in a small, much smaller scale.

Brad Dowdy: You know, from the Japanese market shopping the North American pens. But, I don't know, it's, I don't, I can't get all my thoughts out on this. But something's not jiving with these quarterly, now, North American releases. That I, they're starting to confuse me on what Sailor is. And maybe it's just a limited edition manufacturer now. And that's totally fine. But I've just never thought of them that way. That's never been my concept of what Sailor is.

Brad Dowdy: You know, to me, Sailor's been, like, one of the best, you know, pen creators in the market. But, built on, like, a stable roster of products with limited editions mixed in. And now that seems to be reversed. And not that that's a good thing or a bad thing. It's, it's an I'm confused thing. Because I, because here's the thing, Myke. No one can buy all this stuff. So, at what point is there diminishing returns?

Speaker 02: I mean, I would argue that Sailor probably already passed that point a long time ago.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And same with this podcast, right? But that's, that's the other point I wanted to bring up. Is, like, we talk about them all the time. Because they're the only ones doing this. So, are they smarter than everybody? Or are they hemorrhaging money?

Speaker 02: Well.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know that there's an in-between.

Speaker 02: Hmm.

Speaker 02: I don't know. Because I think that they have been successful.

Speaker 02: But we know that they're, they're struggling. Financially. Mm-hmm. So, so.

Brad Dowdy: But outwardly, it does not appear that way. Because, good lord, they do not stop.

Speaker 02: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet. That's the regular stuff.

Speaker 02: Yeah, then there's, like, this whole other level. Yeah. Which I think I need you to explain to me.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know that I can. You ready to, you ready to dig into this? Yes. I would like to try. Okay. So. Our good friends CY and Jacob from Tokyo Station. Um. Um. Um. And Tokyo Inkling's podcast. And Fude Fan. Sent a PDF of Sailor's new catalog. This one I definitely don't have a translation on. But there is a completely new pen style. Which we will link in the show notes. CY sent me over the PDF scan. And sent it on Twitter. So a bunch of y'all have seen this. This is the new, uh. I think they're calling this Shadow. Uh. CY gave me the name. Let me.

Speaker 02: That's what it says. I mean. The only English word. So it says Shadow. But there was a. This entire two page PDF is the word Shadow.

Brad Dowdy: I asked him for the specific name. He said it's Luminous Shadow is the name. Okay. Right.

Brad Dowdy: Um. What this looks like. It's a king of pen size. Yeah. It's using the king of pen nib. In.

Brad Dowdy: Hmm. I don't know how to explain this pen. This is. It's more traditional.

Speaker 02: It's. It's Sailor doing canalea. Canalea is what it is. No. I don't get that. I mean. I get that from the materials. Because they have those images underneath. Right. That's true. They do have the images. That's what I'm talking about. Like the body style. Not really so much. But it's like. I assume what they're trying to do here. Is like. We have these images. And we want to make pens that look like them. So. Well. That's just something.

Brad Dowdy: Same with the Shikiori pens that we just had. They had the same images. True.

Pelican M600 Review

Speaker 02: True. True. True.

Brad Dowdy: They've done this for a long time. Like. I have the sky. And the earth. And the. You know. The fire. And all those things. They've long. Long. Done these. Matching. In this image. The image of things.

Speaker 02: Says it looks like a Leonardo. Which I can see.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm trying to figure. Figure out the shape of this pen. Or like.

Speaker 02: It's a. The. Monte Grappa. Monte Grappa.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's close to that. You know what this pen. The immediate thought I had. When I saw this pen. Because I saw the green one. Was like that. Twisby special edition. They did. With the green. Acrylic. Yeah. That's exactly what it looks like to me. I. I don't think I like the look of these. Brett. Well. It's different. Right. This is. I. I appreciate this. More than I do something like the Loch Ness. Because it is different. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't. We'll get to why it might not here in a minute.

Speaker 02: The thing that intrigues me. The most. About these. Is from what CY said. These have king of pen nibs in them. Right. Now that is like. Okay. I will look at this. Right. Like. Now. You've got me interested.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So. The thing that got me about these. Is. The shape. The way the. End of the pen. Has. A band around it. Makes it look like it's going to be a piston filler. Right. I was like. If they made this size pen. Into like a Japanese eyedropper. With a king of pen. They can charge. What they're asking for this pen. And. People will buy it. But if it's another. Like. Super size. King of pen. Um. With a different shape. Different materials. And they're going to charge me. Over a thousand dollars for it. Which is the price of these pens. Yeah. I was about. Yeah. Let's not. Let's not beat around the bush anymore. I'm less interested. Again. When I see that. Right.

Speaker 02: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: These pens are. A thousand dollars.

Brad Dowdy: To me. They're. They're at least telling me a different story. It's like. Look. We want to try something different here. Um. It. But. At the same. Time. I say that.

Brad Dowdy: I have to question. How much of a sailor pen. This is. Right. Why do I buy sailor pens? Well. There. Is a style. An aesthetic. And. A look. That I appreciate from them. This is. And the only part. That you're getting from this. Is the nib. Yeah.

Speaker 02: I. Look. I am. This is one of those pens. That like. When. One. Crosses my path. I'll be really interested. To look at it. But. You have. Hit on exactly. What I. Couldn't think about. Is like. This pen. That's not a sailor pen to me. It just isn't. Like. There's two pages to this PDF. The second page. Well. We're going to get to that.

Brad Dowdy: Is some.

Speaker 02: Other king of pens. And I look at those. And I'm like. Yep. That's a sailor pen. But. These other ones. Feel. European.

Brad Dowdy: That's fair.

Speaker 02: And. That style. Is. Is great.

Speaker 02: But. It's not.

Brad Dowdy: You know what's really popular. In Japan. Myke.

Brad Dowdy: Pelican. And Lamy.

Speaker 02: And so. So if that's the case. Right. Like. Go for it. Right. Like. But. But. It's just like. For me. As a huge fan. Of this brand. It's like.

Speaker 02: That's not. Even the material. The material. They're using. Doesn't. Look right. To me. It just doesn't. Feel right. It feels like. They're trying to. It's like. It feels like. A greatest hits. Kind of pen. But not their greatest hits. It's somebody else's. And.

Brad Dowdy: I think you're right. In the. This is the European aesthetic. That they're going for. And I kind of disagree. With. What it is. I think.

Brad Dowdy: As much as I don't. Plan on owning one of these pens. Nor do I really want one. Or care for one. I'm glad. Sailor does it. I would rather see. This come up. Than. Three months from now. Giving me. I don't know. Orange desk mat. For whatever their next. Sailor. North American edition is.

Speaker 02: Right. And what I will say on this. Is like. Similarly. I can appreciate it. From the sense. That like. There will be people. That don't typically. Like Sailor's. Normal aesthetic. Because this is their aesthetic. Which is not mine. But it's somebody else's. And. There is. Good sense. In making. A very good. Version. Of a different type of pen. To meet a different customer. Rather than. As you're saying. Just like. Here's a blue one. Right. Here's a green one. Here's a red one. You know. Like. Right. At a certain point. Just. Here's a. Different color. 1911. Isn't. Going to cut it. Right. Yeah. Where like. So like. We're looking at like. Looking at their entire business today. Through these different lenses. It's like. You've got. Here's a recolor. Here's a. Like a. A very. Cool. Limited edition range. Right. In the middle. And now this is like. Here's a brand new pen. Oh. By the way. It doesn't look like. Anything else we make. Right. And we're putting our best nib in it. It's like. Okay. Right. Like. I can. You know. As we're going along a sliding scale. Here. It's like. I can really respect. This product. And what it's probably attempting to do for them. I just. Am pretty confident. It's not one for me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think. I mean. That's fair. Like we say all the time. Like. It doesn't mean. If it's. If it's for me. Whether it's good or bad. I think the spend. Is going to be a success. In the Japanese market. Whether that translates. More than that. I don't know. I mean.

Speaker 02: You've got to be a fan. They're not using gold furniture. It's all. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It looks like. Like. I'm not a fan of the price. Right. Like. That's. Super expensive. Like. I already complained about the king of pen. Pro gear price. Like. This is a different level. Here's the thing though.

Speaker 02: I'm not justifying this price. But like. Something that I can't. Conceive of it. Is how big. This. This pen. I think. Is very big. It's got to be. Because it makes the king of pen nib. Look small.

Brad Dowdy: Images. So. I would have not guessed. This was a king of pen nib. No. Which goes to your point.

Speaker 02: So like. I'm looking at one. At my king of pen here. And like. My king of pen pro gear. The nib looks massive. In this image. If it's scale correctly. I mean. This is a. Big pen. Yeah. Again. I don't really have much. To say about that. Because. I can't conceive of it. Until I actually have it. But. It's interesting.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I'll be anxious. To get some. First hand reports. From CY and Jacob. If they ever get one of these. In their hands. Because I think. It's going to be a long time. Before we get to even try one. Or see one in person. Just not having any pen shows. And not having any. Retailers. You know. That really. Deal on this market. To. You know. Get one to check out from. So. That brings us to the last page. Which. And the last sailor topic. For today. Maybe. Which. Is. The epitome. Of the king of pen. This is what I think of. When I see king of pen. Right. This. Yeah. It's this. This body shape. This traditional. Torpedo body shape. And. This has the. Ishime finish. Which is like the. Like the pebbled. Finish. Which is a beautiful finish. On the barrel of the pens. You know. They're. They're going to be. More in the fifteen hundred. Sixteen hundred dollar range. But that's. That's the old. Normal. For. What the. Classic. Arushi. King of pens. Were going for. Like. This is. Their main line. King of pen. Like. The pro gear. Is. The. The. Entry level. King of pen. If you will. Which is. You know. Why I latched on to it. Because it was. Half the price. Or less. Of. What the traditional. King of pens were. This is stunning. I mean. These are beautiful. I'll. Probably never own. One of these. But. Like. When I think of. King of pen. This is what I think about.

Speaker 02: It is. I. I don't have one of these. I think. Sometime in the future. I would like. King of pen. That looks like this. Because. It. It really. Is very. You know. I look at this. And it's like. That feels like. The epitome. Of Japanese pen design. Is like. That kind of. Shape and style. Right. Yeah. Because it is. Nakaya like. Yeah. You know.

Brad Dowdy: It's. It's simple. Yet. Extremely complex.

Speaker 02: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: And again. To the nib point. This is the same size nib. As on the previous page. And we'll have the link in the show notes. So y'all can pull this up. While we're discussing them. This looks like it fits this pen. Right. You can tell. That's a big nib. On this pen. On the other page. It's like. Yes. Exactly. Is this a. Yeah. So. Anyway. This is. Like. I don't have much to say about this. Because this is like. Perfect. Like. This is. This is what I think. And. Maybe. I have to get out of. Traditional sailor thinking. Right. They're always going to have. Traditional sailor. Products. But sailor. You know. The reason why we like them so much. Is they are willing to do. You know. Weird. And crazy things. Where. A lot of their competition. Is. Not willing to. You know. Just. You know. Throw things on the wall. And see what sticks. You know. I don't know whether that's good or bad. For either. For any companies. You know. What. Finding their way. But. It certainly gives us a lot to talk about. As we've just spent. An enordinate amount of time. Talking about sailor. Which we do frequently. It's because. They give us things to talk about. And I find. Their business. To be very interesting. Because. It's actually getting. I thought we were going to get to a point. Where it was less confusing. Myke. Their business. And I think it's getting more confusing. Right now.

Speaker 02: Um. It's just worth noting. This pen is like. $1600. The one that we're just talking about here. So like.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Wow. That's the. That's the old normal. Yeah. Which is why I never owned. A king of pen before. Is because even like. The base. Arushi ones. Not with the. Ishime finish. Were. You know. 12 to 1500. 100.

Brad Dowdy: So like. That doesn't. Like. That doesn't surprise me at all. That's correct. In my book. Hmm.

Speaker 02: Today's episode. Is brought to you by Squarespace. You can make your next move. With Squarespace. They will let you. Easily create a website. For your next idea. Or project. No matter what it is. You want to do. Squarespace. Have all of the tools. And it's so easy to use. Squarespace. Is an all in one platform. There's nothing to install. Patch or upgrade. And it's super easy. To go in. And customize things. To your heart's content. They have these beautiful. Award winning templates. That you can set up. And you can go in. And tweak them. Those are fun options. Those are color options. The layout stuff. Is really easy to tweak. You can do it all on the web. Or even in their apps. I use my iPad app. To update things. On my Squarespace site. All the time. It's really. Really easy to do. If you want to build. A store. With Squarespace. You can do that. They have. Tools. For physical. And digital products. Brad's stores. Or actually. All of Brad's stuff. Is Squarespace powered. From the. The Panatic website. To the store there. To the NotCo store. It's all powered by Squarespace. Because they really have. All of these tools. All of the integrations. That you're going to want. And they back everything up. They have award winning. 24-7 customer support. So. If you need any help. Squarespace have got people. On hand to help you. But you can make any site you want. Blogs. Portfolios. Site for your business. Site for a different kind of project. Maybe just a landing page. For you. To push out to different places. On the web. You can get it all. With Squarespace. And even register domains. Right there. So you can have everything. Taken care of. Right. Their plans start. At just $12 a month. But you can start a trial today. With no credit card required. Just go to. Squarespace.com. Slash. Penaddict. Then when you decide to sign up. Use the offer code. Penaddict. To get 10%. Of your first purchase. Of a website. Or domain. And show your support. For this show. Once again. That's. Squarespace.com. Slash. Penaddict. And the code Penaddict. For 10% of your first purchase. A thanks to Squarespace. For their continued support. Of this show. And all of Relay FM. Squarespace. Make your next move. Make your next website.

Brad Dowdy: This next pen. That we're going to talk about.

Brad Dowdy: And what Pelican does. With limited editions.

Brad Dowdy: Is kind of the antithesis. Of what Saylor's doing. I think. And. It feels proper. And I don't know. If. If. If that's the. The. The German style. Of doing stationary. Of. Of manufacturing. But. When I look at Pelican. And I look at Saylor. Probably. Arguably. Two of the biggest. Pen brands in the world. In how they handle. Standard editions. Versus. Limited editions. In their own product lineups.

Brad Dowdy: I just look at Pelican. Every time. And go. Yeah. You get it right. Every time. And. This latest one. Is the. M600. Tortoise shell red. And. I feel like. It doesn't even matter. What you. Whether you like this pen. Love this pen. Hate it. Whatever. The. The pacing. In the organization. That comes with every. Pelican release. Is calming. Where Saylor. Is. Frenetic.

Speaker 02: Yeah. I mean.

Speaker 02: Pelican. Don't have. Such a. Like. Business. Dependent on these. Limited editions. I think. You know. It's a. Right. It's a very. Very different. Um.

Brad Dowdy: So. This model. Pelican. For example. Has. Gosh. Without me. Thinking about this. And I'll. I'll get in trouble. For saying this. They have the biggest. Stock. Lineup. Available. Everywhere. Right. The biggest. Base. Pen. Lineup. Right. They have. Let's see. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Different core sizes. Um. And clip. Well. Two are the same size. But have different nibs. So. 200. 400. 600. 800. 1000. And those are. Always available. Everywhere.

Brad Dowdy: In. Different nib sizes. A few different barrel colors. For each. And then. Interspersed. Hey. Let's do an 800. Limit size. Limited edition. Hey. Let's do a 200. Limited edition. And. It just. Um. It just seems a lot. Calmer to me. I. It's like. I get what they're trying to sell me. Right. Here's our great pen. That is available. Everywhere. And. You will buy it. And you will love it. If you enjoy that. We do these other special things. From time to time. And. You should look at those too. If you enjoy our pens. Where sailor. It's like the Tasmanian devil. Running around. And like. Pens are flying. Every time he spins. Like all these pens. Just keep flying out of him. And it's like. I don't know what to do. Anymore. You know. It's quite a nice way of putting it. Actually. I. That's the feeling I get. When I see these. Because I see this pelican. Like. I have no desire to own this pelican. But I look at it. And I'm like. Damn. That is perfect. Right. It. It just is. And not just in design. But in fit. It. It fit with the story. Pelican's trying to tell me. And that's where sailor's losing me. I mean. I'm always going to prefer. A sailor pen over a pelican. Because that's my style. And you know. The nibs work for me. But. I want pelican to read me a bedtime story. Right. And sailor's like the boogeyman. Like. I'm scared.

Speaker 02: What I'll say is like. Pelican's doing a great job. For whatever reason. But it's not that they are.

Speaker 02: It's not that. This model is the best one. Because. You look at. Pilot. Who have. I think more of a pelican like model. Of like. Yeah we do limited editions. But we really consider them. And pretty much every single time. I'm underwhelmed. So like. It isn't the idea. That like. If you are like. Slow and steady. You're not going to win the race. On this like. These limited models. You've still got to back it up. With having good ideas. Yeah. Right. Because like the. You know. Like I'm thinking of like. The vanishing points. Right. Every single time. I'm like. This is so boring. Right. But. But this tortoiseshell red. Is really beautiful. So. That's kind of like. The only addendum. That I wanted to make on that. Is like. Pelican are doing good. Because pelican are doing good. Not because. The. Idea of doing. Less is more. Because that doesn't always work that way.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think. That's fair. But then again. Like we spent. 20 minutes talking about sailor. And two minutes talking about pelican. Right. Because sailor. That's the other thing. That's the topic. Right. They give us those things to talk about. And I've always said that. Like. That's how. You know. Pelican. I mean. Excuse me. Sailor has. Has. Has been for. Yep. And if you. The past five or six years.

Speaker 02: If you look at this tortoiseshell red. And think. Hey. I've seen this before. You have seen it before. This. This pen was shown off a while ago. But was delayed. Due to COVID.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And it's now. So like. Some of the early year plans. You know. Pictures were around. And then it just. A little bit delayed. I mean. This is a knockout. This is a knockout of a pen. Yeah. And like. This is one of those pens. That like. You can say this about pelican. Which you can. You don't. It's not really the same conversation with sailor. I don't think. If you want this pen. You should. You should not delay. Where sailor. Like. They might have something. That fits you better tomorrow.

Speaker 02: Because it's really nice. Just in general. But I think that that design. Would really appeal. To the core audience. For pelican.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Oh it's classic. It's classic. It's. This is a 10 out of 10 pen. To me. Like. And I'm not even a pelican fan. Like. I. I rarely use the pelicans I have. But I understand what pelican is. And I think they're one of the best. In the business. I mean. I think. That's probably an understatement.

Speaker 02: All right. Last up today.

Diamond Writer's Blood

Speaker 02: Diamond. Writer's blood. I hate this name so much. I hate this name so much. Why? This is a terrible name for an ink. Why?

Brad Dowdy: Explain that to me. Because I didn't have the same reaction. I had. I had a different reaction. But not about the name.

Speaker 02: Writer's blood is human blood.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. It's a red ink.

Speaker 02: No. But I don't. I don't like the personification of it being. Of the person who's using it. Mm-hmm. There's something about that. That I really. It doesn't sit well with me.

Brad Dowdy: I don't. I don't like the name. You know. Not the old. You know. Sign your name in blood thing. You know. The classic.

Speaker 02: Yeah. Yeah. I know where it's coming from. I don't like it.

Brad Dowdy: Literary tales. I don't like it. So. Okay. I'm not going to fight you on the name. It's an interesting name.

Speaker 02: It's a purely personal thing. It's just. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't sit kindly with me. It's too aggressive. It's too aggressive.

Brad Dowdy: I like it. Even. So. This link. I'm going to show you the link. From Nick Stewart. The wonderful. Fountain pen. Ink art. You know. Nick. You know. Fountain pens and bleach. And he does wonderful artwork. He. He even says. In. In the thing. He preferred the name. Raven's blood. But. He's fine with writer's blood. But. What I wanted to. To do with this. Is. Not necessarily. Talk about the name. Or the. Or the color. But the idea. That. Diamine. Continues to work. With the. Slash. Our fountain pen community. On reddit. This is their third ink. I think. And. I just find that. Endlessly. Fascinating. And beautiful. That. A company. As established. As. Diamine. Has really. Gotten on board. With. What their customers. And fans. Want. And leaned into.

Brad Dowdy: You know. A platform. Like. Reddit. And. The specific. Board. On there. To. Work on making. Ink colors. And. I just think. It's cool. Like. I really love. That Diamine. Is doing this. And. You know. I hope they keep doing this. You know. Once a year. So yeah. This is the third one. So Earl Grey. Was the first one. You remember us talking about that. Because we were both confused. On that one. How that got made. And then they did. Aurora Borealis. And now. Writer's blood. And. I just wanted to give. Special shout out. To Diamine. For. Actually. You know. Reaching out. And doing this. I. I would love to see. Even more of this. Because this is not. It's not easy. To. Work with the masses. If you will. To settle on. And get an answer. For a product. So. I just think. I think this is super cool. And I hope they keep it up.

Speaker 02: All right. So I think that's going to wrap it up for today. I'm going to let you go. Yeah. I'm fading. You did a great job. I know that you're. Your body's going through some stress right now. Yeah. So. Yeah. Send all of the love in the world. To Bradley Dowdy. Go to thepanaddict.com. Don't buy. His product. Save until next year. Save up your money. Buy his products. But you can. Become a member. And you can support. The panaddict. The blog. And everything going on there. By checking out the membership option. I'll put a link in the show notes for that. And you get a great newsletter. Most of the time.

Speaker 02: Maybe not.

Myke Hurley: Maybe not this week. Oh. You'll get something this week. It just may be really short. Saying I don't know how much I can do.

Speaker 02: Yeah. We'll see. We'll see. About that. You're going to. I mean. Obviously not this week. But I assume you'll be keeping up the Twitch. Right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm going to try. We'll see how this afternoon goes. I'm planning. I'm tentatively planning on tomorrow. So Thursday. 10 a.m. Tuesday. Thursday.

Speaker 02: 10 a.m. Eastern. Twitch.tv. Slash panaddict. If you're interested. I'm continuing to move forward. With my Twitch stuff. I now have branding. For my Twitch channel. So we're moving along. Go to mike.live. And you can see that. I'm actually very very happy. With the work that. I've been able to do. With a wonderful designer.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And it is. It is Tyler. Tyler approved. Right? Yes. He already likes your channel. Over mine.

Speaker 02: Yep. What can I say?

Speaker 02: Pens are boring. Am I right? Keyboards. That's where the gamers are. Gamers. Everyone loves a gamer, Brad. That's what it is. That's right. Thank you so much to Squarespace. And Uni. For their support of the show. And thank you so much. For listening. Till next time. Say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.